


Shadows

by Themistoklis



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 18:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Themistoklis/pseuds/Themistoklis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teyla has heard many, many legends about the Wraith. She doesn't believe them all, but they do stick with her. Although they're the last thing on her mind when Jeannie Miller visits Atlantis. Teyla is glad to see her again, and happy that Jeannie wants to tag along to visit a trading fair with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [looselipssinksubs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/looselipssinksubs/gifts).



> For looselipssinksubs. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Thanks to busaikko for beta-reading the first half of the story and tossing around some plot ideas with me. She didn't see the final version, though, so any mistakes are entirely my own.

[   _Then_ ]

Teyla crouches low enough to be hidden by the bushes in front of her, and slowly slides onto her belly. The short spear clutched in her right hand has a point wide and flat enough to dig at the dirt between the plants with, but she has to do it slowly or the sound won't be covered up by the wind rustling through the trees above her. She needs to make her way to the other side without attracting attention.

The sky is dull enough today that there isn't a lot of sunlight making its way to the floor of the forest. The other young hunter out with her today should be on the opposite side of the clearing, but she can't see her yet through the foliage. She carefully -- and slowly -- carves a rut shallow enough to push through until she's got leaves pressed against her back from head to hip.

From this distance she can see the _eodrea_ snuffling around the roots of a _towsin_ stump. Whenever her people chop down a _towsin_ tree to bolster their tent structures, the roots start to weaken. To an _eodrea_ they're good for chewing. Some people imitate the animals, believing the roots make teeth stronger.

Teyla personally always finds the roots too bittersweet, and they leave a residue on her teeth that makes her want to scrub them with river water. The _eodreas_ can have them all, as far as she's concerned. The better the short, plump creatures eat, the better they end up tasting.

She scans the area around the stump smiles as she catches the sloping lines of Senaka's shoulders. Senaka always brings her elbows near together and lifts her head when she's hiding on the ground. It makes for a distinctive silhouette, if one knows what to look for.

She curls her tongue and presses it to her lips. Blowing creates a soft whistle that's difficult to tell apart from the wind from the nearing storm. The _eodrea_ is jaw-deep into the dirt around the _towsin_ roots and doesn't even lift its head.

Senaka's hand lets loose her spear. It cuts a gouge into the _eodrea_ 's neck. The creature squeals and shuffles backwards, dirt piling up around its hooves. Teyla jumps up and forward, striking down with her spear the moment the animal is aware of her. The crack of the spear point against its skull quiets it immediately.

Grinning, Senaka sweeps up her spear and pulls out two skinny cloths from her pocket. "A true attack as always," she says.

"Thank you." Teyla kneels and grabs the _eodrea_ 's snout, pulling its head back and to the side so the blood will puddle in one spot and not splash against its skin. "This will double the stretch of Charin's stew for tonight."

Senaka nods and rests her spear against her dark shoulder. The sun is starting to set, and in the shadows the two of them are starting to fade into the scenery. It's only the small metallic clasps on their clothing and their spears that stand out. When Teyla is done letting much of the _eodrea_ 's blood, she turns it over, and Senaka quickly ropes the front and back hooves together. The _eodrea_ fits neatly over her shoulder, though its pale skin stands out starkly from her own.

It's a pink bobbing signal for Teyla to follow as the two of them make their way back toward the village.

"My little brother is taking the forest walk after tomorrow's day of rest," Senaka comments, bowing low to make her way under a tree branch. "The rest day is his birthday."

Teyla does the same and brushes her hair out of her face. "I'm sure he'll do well."

"I can only hope that his ten days are uneventful," Senaka says. She looks back over her shoulder at Teyla, and her lips are pressed together. The forest walk is a ritual each ten-year-old Athosian child goes through. Teyla and Senaka each did it years ago. Teyla's was a quiet and testing journey that stretched her skills to the limit.

Senaka had spent three days hiding from a Wraith raid in a cave that seemed much easier to get into than to get out of. They were long gone by the time she got out, but she got back home to discover two cousins gone with them.

"It is … unusual for a forest walk to be disrupted so," Teyla says. She can't assure Senaka that it won't happen. It has happened. And if her little brother doesn't make his journey with an eye on a hiding place for emergencies, then he might not return at the end of the ten days.

Inhaling, Senaka gives a curt nod. "Athosians know where to seek safety," she says. Teyla echoes her nod, although she seems to have said that mostly for her own reassurance.

Looking at the sky, Teyla hopes the rain holds off long enough for them to roast the _eodrea_ outdoors. It cooks better that way and doesn't end up tasting as smoke-choked as it would if they had to cover the fire from the falling rain. She isn't the best cook around -- despite Charin's teachings -- but she can at least maintain a good cooking fire.

Dinner that night is a bit of an affair. She thinks it might be because everyone knows a tenth birthday is about to arrive. That, and the storm that starts in full when they're halfway through serving Charin's stew.

There's an old saying that the Wraith don't come when it rains.

It's not true. Teyla knows that as well as anyone. The Wraith come no matter the weather. They may not get out of their ships when it rains, though. And _not_ encountering the Wraith on foot always seems like a slight favor from the Ancestors.

Because of the weather, they flit between tents as full night falls and it comes time to sleep. Senaka latches onto her hand and pulls her into her family tent. Shooting a look over her shoulder, Teyla catches a glimpse of Charin waving goodnight, implicitly blessing an evening's stay with her friend.

Sometimes Teyla worries that Charin regrets having to take her in. Charin wasn't planning to have another child Teyla's age at this point in her life, surely. So she follows Senaka into the tent to give Charin an evening alone to can rest.

The long nights on Athos call for solitude as often as company.

\---

Teyla squeezes into a spot next to Senaka. There's no room to sit on the benches, which the elders have pulled away from the central lantern. Instead, she's on the ground, her legs folded underneath her so no one walking around will trip over her feet.

She hooks one finger into the heels of her shoes and takes them off one by one while Senaka's father -- who's youngish by Athosian standards, but did come from another planet -- finds his place in the middle of the circle. Senaka, her brother Tallos, their father Onlen, and an assorted handful of cousins and some of Tallos's friends are all crammed into the family tent. Teyla wriggles her toes in the cool night air and scans the familiar faces in the dim lantern light.

"May the dark and rain keep us sheltered this night," Onlen says. His place is on a stool centered opposite of the two benches the family has set up for their guests.

Everyone bows their heads for a moment. Teyla does too, her long hair falling over her shoulders with a whisper.

"Tell a scary story," one of the little ones pipes up. There's stirring among the younger cousins. Teyla looks over, but isn't sure who just spoke. The children throw out their various suggestions, though Tallos remains silent. "Tell us about the old city." "Tell us about where you came from." "No! Tell us about the Wraith!"

Senaka touches her elbow to Teyla's. Teyla leans against her slightly, her hair brushing against Senaka's bare arm. Her friend digs her heels into the dirt and glances around at the faces of the elders in the tent. Teyla knows she's thinking about the people she isn't seeing tonight.

Onlen raises a hand and nods. "I can satisfy several of those at once," he says.

Teyla is curious about which of the suggestions he thinks he can fulfill. She hasn't heard many stories about the world where Onlen is from. He's used Athosian customs for as long as she can remember, possibly to strengthen his children's lives after their mother was culled.

"You all know of the shadows cast by the Wraith," Onlen says. He rests his elbows on his knees and leans forward, so his shadow stretches across the circle of people. "The dark, twisting forms they send us to trip our steps and confuse our retreats. It's nothing more than a trick of the mind, for sure."

He pauses. "But on my world, I heard a different story of them while I grew."

"It was said that in the shadows of the Wraith were faces. Expressions and features that were visible if you stopped long enough to look." 

A new hush falls over the listeners. Even Teyla grows still. There's no sound of shuffling, or nudging, and even their collective breaths seem quieter. Every one of them has seen a shadow, and all of them know that they are simply tricks to slow them down. Mark them as easier prey.

"My uncle not-of-blood told me a story that he learned from his own grandfather," Onlen murmurs. "When his grandfather was a young man, he was on a lone trek when the Wraith attacked."

Teyla glances at Senaka without moving her head. Her friend's face is a careful blank.

"The nearest place of safety was a concealed hollow underneath the roots of an ancient tree. It was several minutes' run away and on an entirely separate path from the one his grandfather was taking," Onlen says. He shifts his weight and his wooden stool creaks slightly. "Darts were overhead, but he could hear the crunch of branches in the forest that meant Wraith soldiers were spread through the woods.

"He ran up a long slope he'd taken many times before, but never with the speed he needed now. His chest began to ache from the effort of moving so quickly while trying to stay as quiet as possible," Onlen says.

The rain on the walls and ceiling of the tent gets louder, and Teyla glances at the doorway to see it rippling slightly from the force of the weather. She leans forward slightly to rest her arms on her legs. She can't picture the story Onlen is telling, only the walk she and Senaka took through the woods earlier that day.

"The sun was high in the sky. The buzzing of the darts was louder than the heartbeat in his ears. And all around my uncle's grandfather began to appear the shades of the Wraith. Formless shadows that darted about him and confused his steps." Onlen pauses. "As he spun and hauled himself forward, nearly lost, the Wraith shadows began to take shape."

The muscles between Teyla's shoulders tense. Such a thing is not possible. She repeats that to herself, silently, and does not bite her lips as the younger children do.

Onlen is perched on the edge of his stool now. "He saw in the dark forms the faces of people long gone. People he had seen snatched by the Wraith's hands and darts." He inhales deeply, his shoulders folding in. "It caused him to stumble and nearly lose his way. He knew these people were gone, but there they were, right before his eyes.

"The whine of a dart overhead brought him back to himself. He ran the rest of the way to the shelter, where he hid until the attack was over."

Onlen stares at his feet for a moment before cracking a smile that seems so unnatural it makes a shiver run down Teyla's back. "But we know better, don't we? The one thing the Wraith cannot take is our spirits."

There's some mumbling in the group. Teyla feels on edge from the sudden change in Onlen's expression, and she watches him turn to the other elders and talk in quiet tones. If she concentrated she could catch what they're saying, but she turns to Senaka instead.

Senaka puts an arm through hers and tugs her over to where her brother is sitting. "There is no such thing," she says. She puts a hand on her brother's shoulder and touches their foreheads together. "And that will not happen to you."

Tallos looks up at them with creases at the corners of his eyes.

"The Wraith cannot trap and command souls," Teyla says. She puts her hand on his shoulder as well. She has no siblings, but she has an idea of how to look after them. "It was only foolishness caused by panic," she assures the boy.

Tallos wets his lips. "Foolishness," he repeats.

Eleven days later, he returns from his forest walk unharmed. Teyla does not forget Onlen's story, but she remembers the whistle Tallos made on his walk much better.

\---

[   _Now_   ]

 

"Is Rodney not joining us this morning?"

Jeannie looks up from the small bag at her feet. She's sitting on the bottom of the steps in the gate room, out of everyone's way -- or so she hopes. "No, he's going to be here, but he got distracted by something shiny," she tells Teyla, laughing.

The woman smiles broadly and sits down next to her on the steps. It's one of the few times Jeannie thinks she's seen Teyla in casual clothing. Usually it's workout clothes or one of those blocky outfits everyone seems to wear on official missions. Personally Jeannie vastly prefers the Athosian clothes to the Atlantis-issued things.

"I am glad to get the chance to show you one of the places where my people trade, Jeannie," Teyla says. Jeannie zips up her pack and looks over at her. Teyla is watching the Stargate. "On Athos, where I grew up, we visited other places often. It is the way people in this galaxy live. This will be a fine opportunity to see Pegasus."

Jeannie nods. "I'm just as happy for the chance. Mer acts like we should get a full military escort, but he's just being overprotective," she says.

At least, she's pretty sure he is. When they'd discussed it, Elizabeth hadn't acted like they would need an entire gate team with them while they made their trip. They were only going to be gone for a few hours. John had called it a 'milk run.'

Jeannie's second journey to Atlantis is going to be a short trip by the looks of it. No major scientific breakthroughs-slash-accidents this time. She'd come to work on some fiddly device Mer wanted to use to detect when Wraith beamed down from their ships. The problem was an inability to test it until an emergency situation, so she'd convinced him to make up extras. Teyla's going to distribute them while she traded for odds and ends today.

"He does not admit it, but Rodney cares very much about other's welfare," Teyla says. She pauses and shows a small smile. "When he pays enough attention to his surroundings, at least."

"Oh, yes. He acts like he can't remember anything about Madison in our e-mails but he usually asks how her dramas with her play group are going," Jeannie says.

Teyla shakes her head slightly and glances up the staircase. Jeannie doesn't have to turn around to see that her brother is on his way. She can recognize his footsteps even in the crowd of people working in the control area. There's no muttering following along behind him, either, which she counts as a vast improvement over the times she visited him in college. It's only been a few months since her first visit to Atlantis, but she thinks that she's gotten a better impression of the people her brother works with in the labs this time around.

Jeannie likes Teyla, too. She seems stable, and spends more time in Mer's company than is strictly required, which makes Jeannie think maybe her brother really will do okay in this place, even if he taps into alternate universes on occasion.

And she does have to own up to that incident being partially her fault.

"I still think we should be taking a jumper," Mer says. He doesn't bother to come to a halt behind them, but keeps walking toward the gate while they get to their feet.

"It is only a short walk to the trading post," Teyla says. She pulls a backpack onto her shoulders with both hands. "My people regularly make the walk without a jumper."

"Well… yeah," Mer says. He stands in front of the gate fiddling with the straps on his own backpack. It's a lot bigger than Jeannie's. She doesn't think they made enough devices to take up all the room in that bag. She guesses he's probably bringing more snacks than she has for herself. Maybe he has an extra flashlight.

Teyla comes to a rest beside them. Jeannie stops herself before walking past them, even a step. She doesn't understand how everybody knows how far back to stand without a mark on the floor.

The first symbol on the gate lights up.

"John is not coming after all?" Teyla asks.

"No, he's running with Conan," Mer says. Jeannie elbows him in the ribs and he winces loudly, jumping a couple of inches to the side -- not actually out of her range, though. "They said they'd be after us if we didn't come back in three hours, though."

Teyla raises one eyebrow. "John cannot suspect trouble if he is not attending with us."

Jeannie wishes she knew more about the team's relationship. Instead she's left staring at the gate as it finishes dialing, because it's easier to understand than any implications the other two are making about John and Ronon. She braces her shoulders and holds herself still as the wormhole whooshes into place before them. But there's no spray of water like part of her is convinced should be there.

"He's just trying to get out of shopping," Mer says.

Teyla nods like that makes perfect sense and both of them step forward at the same time. Blinking, Jeannie follows them through the wormhole.

\---

The trading post is outside, but even with all the haggling it reminds Jeannie more of a shopping mall than a yard sale.

Almost everyone seems to know where all the things they need are. The rest don't seem uncomfortable with browsing. There are dozens of stalls, and the grass has grown up around their wooden bases, like this place has been here for quite a while. Even Mer knows where certain stalls are.

He passes off the first Wraith-on-foot detector at a stall with lots of buckets of what look like potatoes, if potatoes had pale white skin. Mer had told her that half of what they ate in the Atlantis cafeteria were Pegasus foods, but she hadn't seen many in their raw forms before this. She's tempted to pick one up, but they move onto the next shop before she can ask Mer if he has any money on him.

They stop in front of a stall with columns holding up the roof, and beaded jewelry hanging off nearly every surface. Jeannie's eyes blur slightly before the owner appears in a gap between necklace stands. She's short and squat, and her clothes are garishly bright and look like they're made of lots of scarves woven together.

"Bell, how are you today?" Teyla asks. She bends forward and down to touch her forehead to the woman's, and then Bell takes both of Teyla's hands in hers. "You remember Rodney McKay. This is his sister Jeannie Miller."

"Fine, fine. Trade is slow, but it will warm up as the day goes on." Smiling, Bell looks briefly at her and then meets Mer's eyes. "You should have been here an hour ago. My grandchildren would have been pleased to see you again."

Both of Jeannie's eyebrows jump up. Just as quickly, Mer's face turns red. He yanks another detector out of his bag and shoves it at her. She has to scramble not to drop it. "I'm going to take the next one to Rom," he says. He glances at her, and then to Bell, who grins again. Her brother shuffles his feet and disappears behind the stall.

Teyla cups one hand over her mouth to call after him. "Stay there and we will find you in a moment!"

Jeannie shakes her head. "He used to do that when Mom and Dad dropped us off at the mall, too," she says. This time she can't badger him into getting her a soda from the food court in exchange for not telling, either. She's pretty sure tattling to Elizabeth wouldn't have the same effect as telling their late parents would.

"I am used to it," Teyla says.

Her tone is flat but there's a small smile on her face. Jeannie hopes that means that Rodney is okay when he wanders off alone out here. Everyone looks like they could belong on Earth, but Jeannie can't forget that this is another planet. A small twinge of anxiety goes off at the back of her throat, and she touches her neck. She wonders if it was a bad idea for John and Ronon not to come with them today.

Teyla pulls the detector out of her bag and hands it over to Bell. "We came to bring you this, Bell. It is a device Dr. McKay and Jeannie invented together." She pauses and bows her head slightly. "However, it has not been tested. We are giving them out to some friends in case they do work properly."

"What does it do?" Bell asks, turning the small machine over in her hands. She's frowning skeptically, wrinkles across her forehead.

"Dr. McKay hopes that it will emit a sound when a Wraith foot soldier is within fifty meters," Teyla explains.

Jeannie tunes out the next few sentences for a chance to look around. There are children here. She watches them pluck at each others' clothes, shriek, and dart in and out of the crowd. There must be something here for kids, if people bring their children. Yet another reason to ask Mer for a loan…

"Well, I'll keep an eye on it," Bell says, tucking the device into her clothes. "But I can't promise it'll be on my mind if a culling should happen."

Teyla nods again. "I understand completely," she says. She touches Jeannie's elbow and gestures for them to go.

The trading post is cluttered and confusing, but Jeannie does notice that when they leave Bell's stall, they're going in the opposite direction. She gets onto her toes and tries to spot Mer in the distance. She sees lots of faces… and broad shoulders… and close-cropped sets of thinning hair. Teyla touches her wrist and Jeannie shakes herself out of it. Ronon probably couldn't spot Mer through this crowd, why should she keep trying?

"Are you all right?"

She nods. "Just feeling kind of packed in."

Teyla glances quickly around the crowd and then takes a step to the side. Jeannie expects that they'll go looking for her brother then, but Teyla suggests something else instead. "We will drop off one more detector before reuniting with Rodney."

Jeannie inhales, a scattering of spices burning the inside of her nose. She's not sure if it's someone selling herbs or food or tea, but it definitely doesn't remind her of any mall. That and a few elbows to her back as a group squeezes past her makes her feel even more closed in than she already did. She wants to find Mer, because she can't imagine him being happy in this crowd -- and, okay, because _she's_ not happy in this crowd -- but she knows that she can't go off without Teyla.

"Okay," she says, squaring her shoulders. "Maybe I'll … see something for Madison along the way."

Before they reach the next stall, she hears a tinny whine overhead. It reminds her of a jet plane.

And someone screams.

\---

It had been a good morning. They are, about half the time, before the Wraith show up. The breeze had kept the air from turning stale, and no rain had hinted at the edges of the sky.

When the dart sounds, though, Teyla snaps around so quickly her skirt flies out around her legs. The dart is coming from the northwest -- the direction of the Stargate.

She presses her lips together as the sound around them rises. Shoppers are calling out to each other, trying to regroup, and sellers are streaming out of the marketplace in memorized paths. Shouts are already hard to hear past the noise of bodies hitting against each other and wares falling to the ground, dropped or knocked over.

A dark shape cuts into the sky overhead. No beam comes out. Teyla doesn't know why, but they must have sent a scout ship ahead of the rest of the darts. That gives them a few minutes.

"Rodney?" she asks, clicking her ear piece. She hears his voice crackle back in response. The crowd makes the marketplace thunderous, though, and she can't understand what he says. She moves forward a few steps, trying to avoid broken glass scattered on the ground. "Say that again! Where are you?"

"You -- brats -- Caves… No, that way! … Teyla, where are

you?"

"Still in the market." Teyla winces when someone shoves against her in the midst of their escape, and darts forward out of their path. Bell's grandchildren have found Rodney, from the sound of it. "We will head to safety if you are doing the same."

"Heard right? -- Yes, yes, I'm coming! -- Should …already! Protect -- Go!"

"I will," Teyla says, and takes her hand down from her ear.

She tenses, ready to run now, and only makes it two steps before remembering that Jeannie McKay is not like her brother. She has never seen a Wraith. Jeannie does not know to flee when there are darts overhead.

Turning, she finds Jeannie pale-faced and staring at the sky.

It makes her stomach go cold, and she grabs onto Jeannie's wrist. Rodney's sister is probably the only person who didn't start moving when the dart sounded overhead. Her stillness seems unnatural. So much so that Teyla walks forward with her despite not being sure of where to go yet.

After a moment she manages to spot a stream of people heading into the forest and believes that will be their best chance to hide. There are high rocks beyond the trees that hide crevices big enough to hold a crowd. From walking the planet, she knows that there are lower, better-hidden caves to the east, but she doesn't think Rodney's sister could handle the terrain.

"Wait!" Jeannie tugs against her grip, but Teyla _pulls_ , because it is time to move. "What's going on?"

The ground starts to pass under their feet. Teyla sets a quick pace and glances several times to make sure that Jeannie is keeping up. They have to reach the forest before the next dart comes. "We must run. That was a Wraith scout. There will be more, soon."

"Wraith? Here?" Jeannie asks. Her breath is coming quicker, and her pupils are wide, but she doesn't seem to be falling behind.

Teyla merely nods. Jeannie sustains the pace into the shade under the trees, and beyond. For now that is all that matters. Teyla cannot leave the woman's side -- not when she's so unprepared for a culling. She scans the forest and the crowd, looking for signs of the Wraith and Rodney. She worries more about the first than the second. Rodney knows when to run.

It's difficult to cut through the brush but a fast walk keeps them near the group. Since Teyla has never come this way before, she would prefer to keep an eye on where everyone is going. She can track -- but so can the Wraith. The entrances to the covered places in the rock will be hidden, and easier to find with others leading their way.

Teyla clicks her earpiece with one hand when she is sure that Jeannie will not fall behind. She doesn't think that her teammate was heading in this direction, or she might have seen him by now. Or heard him, at least. "Rodney? Have you reached safety?"

Jeannie gasps. "Mer!" she yells, stumbling over her own feet.

Teyla has to turn completely around to catch her. She can feel Jeannie's pulse thudding in her wrists. "Now is the time to move, Jeannie," she says, pulling her hard enough that her shoes leave tracks in the dirt. "We must _go_."

"We _must_ go! Now!" Teyla hooks an arm around Jeannie's waist and pushes her forward.

"Mer is stuck out there!" Jeannie says. She's moving, though, even if it is at half the pace they were keeping before. Teyla puts a hand on her shoulder to encourage her forward, faster. "He's told me about the Wraith, they--"

"Rodney is experienced at this," Teyla says, taking a deep breath and giving Jeannie's shoulder a squeeze. She thinks she can hear more darts approaching the forest. And the crowd in front of them is growing smaller as the distance between them widens. "He knows to go to a safe location and to contact us if he can."

Which is a point she's unsure of now. There's no response from her earpiece. If she had been alone, she would have cut through the market, but with Jeannie…

"But it's _Mer!_ And he's _alone!_ "

Teyla shakes her head. "Your brother is perfectly capable of handling himself in the field, however much he may complain about it," she promises. She puts her hand on Jeannie's arm and meets her eyes. "He knows what to do in an emergency situation. How to find a place to hide, how to follow directions, and how to use a weapon. The best thing we can do right now is to keep ourselves safe, as well."

For a moment Jeannie is as still as she was in the market. Teyla imagines having to push her all the way to the caves and briefly wishes that Ronon was here to carry her, but Rodney's sister seems to shake off her panic with a breath and a single nod.

They run this time. A shock goes up Teyla's legs every time her boot hits the ground. But Jeannie is running too, changing her course to avoid trees and staying at Teyla's heels. They cover as much ground as they already have in half the time.

Pale rocks begin jut up through the soil, catching what light makes it through the trees. The rock face must run underground, and they must be getting closer to be seeing parts of it.

"Mer can run now?" Jeannie asks.

Teyla lowers her head to avoid a branch and runs Jeannie's question through her mind several times before understanding. Of course. The Rodney Jeannie knows is the one who isn't regularly cajoled into training. "Yes, your brother can run," she says.

"That's something," Jeannie says. She lets out a manic laugh that gets cut off when she brushes a tree hard enough for her gait to wobble. Teyla half-turns and their hands touch, but Jeannie manages to get her balance back without needing help.

The trees start to thin and from the shine up ahead, Teyla is sure that they're about to come up on the rock face. She even manages to spot a few people heading into a particular slice in the rock and trains her eyes on it, aiming their run in that direction. They're going to make it in time.

She's running too fast to stop when the Wraith shadow appears before her. It feels like frost against her skin when she bursts through it. Teyla feels the jolt of Jeannie falling to the ground before she can register the sound of a strangled shout.

It takes an extra moment to realize that it was her own. When she digs her heel into the dirt and wheels to face the shadow, she sees Jeannie on her hands and knees and the outline of a shape in the dark form in front of herself.

The curves and lines of Senaka's face.

\---

An ache is building up in the bottom of Jeannie's lungs. Apparently she definitely needs to go jogging more often, because this run -- this _chase_ \-- through the forest is quickly beginning to tax her. Her calves are starting to burn, too. These sneakers aren't as hardy as the advertisements claimed they were, either. She should have been looking for shoes at the marketplace.

And she's probably losing her mind if she's thinking about shoes while running for her life. Mer's told her about the Wraith. She was sure that he must have exaggerated some details, but with the way Teyla is cutting through the forest, she thinks she was wrong.

Every few steps she tries to keep an ear out for the last detector in her backpack. She hasn't heard any beeping -- either it doesn't work, no Wraith has landed around them, or she can't hear it over her panting.

Is this the kind of thing Mer does all the time?

She bumps against a tree and nearly trips. Each step after that feels like it might fly out of her control before she gets her foot to the ground. Every few yards she expects the ground to collapse under her weight or jerk suddenly up to meet her.

And then it does -- there's a root where she hadn't expected it to be.

Jeannie's palms slap against the ground. A painful shock radiates up from both her knees. All the air leaves her lungs, and all she can think is, _Teyla, please don't leave me!_

Her companion does keep going, but only for a few steps. Teyla shouts and stumbles when something dark and murky appears in her path. Every part of Jeannie's body freezes. The warmth of the day vanishes like she'd stepped through the Stargate that morning to trudge through piles of snow.

Is this what a Wraith looks like?

" _Illusion!_ " Teyla screams, sweeping her arm through the shadow.

It doesn't fall away at her touch. It does part so it doesn't seem to be touching her. Jeannie doesn't understand how matter that looks so insubstantial could act like that.

Only when Teyla steps forward through the shadow does it disappear.

"These are only shadows," she spits. Literally, spits into the dirt. "It means the Wraith are close. We must go, _now_."

Close?

Teyla reaches down to grab her wrist, but Jeannie has gotten to her knees and twisted around. The zipper on her backpack fumbles under her touch and gets stuck partway down. Teyla makes a frustrated sound and draws a knife out from somewhere in her clothing while Jeannie struggles to get the last detector out of the bag.

There's plenty of beeping now. And two tiny lights, coming towards them from the other side of the forest.

She and Teyla meet each other's eyes.

Jeannie leaves her pack on the ground when they start running, at top speed this time. She doesn't remember it until later. But the detector is clenched in her hand, and she trusts that the sound will get louder if the Wraith on foot begin to close the distance between them.

"Can you get Mer on your -- your ear thing?" Jeannie pants. She's glimpsing the rock face between trees now. They're almost there.

Teyla's hand jerks up. "Rodney?"

In the moment of silence while she's listening, another one of the shadows appears in front of them -- and then there's two.

Someone Jeannie doesn't recognize.

And her thesis advisor. The one she never finished her degree under. The woman's face is unmistakable. Jeannie even sees lighter streaks of shadow where her advisor's hair had been going gray, piled on top of her head.

"Pro -- Professor Mehra?" she says, stumbling. Her hand grazes the shadow figure and it feels like ice. The detector drops out of her hand, still beeping, but goes dark when it connects with the shadow, too.

Teyla grabs Jeannie's elbow and _yanks_. "They. Are. Shadows!" she shouts, running straight through the unfamiliar woman. Jeannie can't help but gasp. The shadow is cold and seems to pull the air out of her lungs.

She thinks she can hear the crunching of footsteps behind them as Teyla pulls her behind a rock cropping that she wouldn't have been able to tell apart from the rest of the cliff herself. Darkness floods her vision and Jeannie tries to blink it away, hand scraping against damp rock and the ground going out from under her at the same time she wonders if being covered means they're safe now.

They both lose their footing and slide down an incline together, the stone weathered from hundreds of people walking it before them. Jeannie manages to land on her butt hard enough that her tailbone aches, but Teyla lands somewhat gracefully on her knees.

After a minute of panting and staring at the ceiling, it seems like… the Wraith aren't coming in here.

"I … think we're safe," Jeannie says. She sits up carefully, being careful of her back. Teyla doesn't look at her and Jeannie squints, wishing there was some kind of light in here. Though she supposes that would make it easier for the Wraith to find.

She thinks they've landed in a tunnel. The darkness slowly fades from black to gray as her eyes get used to the scenery. Teyla isn't moving, so Jeannie tries to urge herself onward. When she holds her hand out and crawls forward a bit, she finds a smooth wall that seems to curve in one direction.

"Maybe there's something back here. Other people." She bites her lip and touches her shoulder, searching for a moment before she remembers that she dropped her pack. Damn. "Did you -- Did you hear from Mer?"

In the shadows, Teyla's head is bowed.

Jeannie gets to her feet and wobbles over to her companion. "Teyla?" she asks, touching the woman's shoulder.

Teyla takes a deep breath edged with a sniffle. Jeannie's so surprised that when Teyla looks up at her, she doesn't notice anything different about her face. "I did hear that Rodney was safe."

Jeannie presses both of her hands to her heart. "Oh thank God."

Teyla continues. "He was…" She closes her eyes briefly. "He asked about us." She touches her ear and starts to talk about them finding shelter.

Jeannie sits down next to her and puts an arm around Teyla. There are glimmering tears streaking down her cheeks.

She wonders who Teyla saw in the Wraith's illusion. While Teyla turns off her radio and takes a moment to gather herself, Jeannie touches her temple. She hadn't heard about anything like that from her brother. Who is definitely getting a talking to for not thinking that John should come along on this mission. Or Ronon. And for splitting up! That had been -- that had been so stupid, Jeannie could--

"Come, Jeannie Miller," Teyla whispers. She stands without wiping at her face and draws a small flashlight from the bag she still has with her. "I believe we may be close to some others from the trading post."

\---

Rodney's stomach hurts, and even though he has more than enough food and didn't ever find a place to eat in the stupid market before the Wraith attacked, he doesn't want to unwrap any of the things he brought. His ears hurt, too. These tunnels are well-protected -- although damned if he can figure out how anyone had the time to carve them, maybe people actually _live_ on this forsaken planet somewhere -- but they echo terribly.

Sticky hands paw at his pant leg and he absently holds his pack out. "Just don't eat too fast or you'll throw up and then your parents will probably ignore that I saved you," he mutters.

The kid runs off to the group of Bell's grandchildren huddled in the corner of the room. Rodney hears them breaking apart one of the chocolate bars he'd stowed in his bag. He doesn't think they heard him. He leans against the wall and rubs at the bridge of his nose, too tired to repeat himself.

Sure, the kids had liked the chocolate last time he'd traded some to Bell for one of her trinkets, but he'd just brought the food along to trade… again. Although this time he probably wouldn't have gotten another gift for Elizabeth's office. Who knew when you were going to spot a useful tool in a trade market? At the very least he could've gotten a knife for Ronon. Or a knife sharpener. Ronon probably went through those pretty quickly.

The room begins to echo with two stets of footsteps and Rodney fumbles for the gun at his side. The kids go so quiet that he can't even hear them breathing. His palm sweats but he edges away from the wall and tries to crouch, moving his head out of the range where a shooter would expect a head to be.

He sees a small yellow light bobbing along the tunnel floor outside the room and holds his breath.

"Mer!" "Oh, Rodney."

Rodney sees Teyla first, and readily shoves his gun back into the holster. "Well it's about--"

The kids send up a round of giggles when Jeannie launches herself across the floor at him. His head bonks the wall. "Hey! Watch out! Delicate skull here!" But he wraps his arms around his sister in return. It's awkward. The last time he got a hug, it was… Well, it was Jeannie arriving from Earth, actually, but _before_ that, it was Elizabeth.

…And she'd been drunk. The point is, Rodney is not so used to hugging, and he isn't sure what to do. He pats his sister's back a little. "Are you, uh… Are you… Did you get scraped up, or…"

Jeannie leans back and grins at him in the dimness from Teyla's flashlight. Her eyes look watery but there are no scratches on her face. She looks over at the kids and Rodney blushes slightly, clearing his throat. Jeannie speaks before he can, though. "I can't believe you do this all the time," she says. "I'm so proud of you, Mer."

He blinks a few times. "Um. Oh."

"Did you see anyone in those awful shadows, too?"

"See… see people?"

Teyla meets his eyes and looks away. Jeannie sits down on the ground and gestures for him to do the same, chattering on about her thesis advisor. Rodney glances over at Teyla, but she doesn't look hurt as she walks over to the kids, so he sits down next to his sister too.

Thankfully Atlantis checks in on them after a couple hours, because the kids eat the rest of his food, too.

\---

Teyla makes an excuse about practicing with John that morning. They eat together, but Rodney and Jeannie leave before the rest of them finish. Teyla lasts about five minutes before she can no longer stand to be still. She leaves with breakfast half-eaten and goes to wait in one of the hallways off of the gate room.

Seeing Atlantis from this angle never fails to stun her. It's as grand and gorgeous as it was the first time. Now she knows far more about how the Ancestors devised this city. She even knows about the mistakes they made, and the designs she would have changed if she had been doing it herself. But she can never forget that this city, and the one on Athos, inspired her own people's development.

The Wraith took that away, but Atlantis reminds her of what her people once had and may have again. She touches the wall and shuts her eyes.

A few minutes later there's a break in the sound of the gate room. Teyla opens her eyes slowly and peers around the hallway. There's Rodney coming down the stairs with his sister. A few of the marines dodge them on their way up to the control center.

"Are you sure you're not -- you know -- I mean, I've heard from, ah, certain people, that talking to a counselor can help when…"

"Mer, I'm okay," Jeannie says.

Teyla presses her lips together and holds her hands in front of her, waiting.

Jeannie hugs her brother and even from across the room Teyla can see how awkward it makes Rodney feel. She cannot imagine the scientist she first met accepting a hug from anyone. Now he turns pink in the face and tries to bend his arms around Jeannie in return.

The Jeannie leans back and lightly punches Rodney's shoulder. "You better show up for Christmas this year."

"Ow! Yes, yes. Or Thanksgiving."

"Or Thanksgiving."

"Remember to give that toy to Madison."

"Like I forget. It weighs more than my laptop."

"It came highly recommended!" Rodney protests. Teyla smiles slightly to herself and begins to walk over to them. The toy had been one that Jinto had a copy of when he was younger. She had gone with Rodney herself to visit her people and pick up the replica for his niece.

"Excuse me," she says.

Jeannie looks up and grins. She looks well-rested now. The morning after the incident on the planet, she'd had dark circles under her eyes. Teyla had given her tea and gone on a silent walk with her to see the ocean from Atlantis's balconies.

Just when she thinks she's gotten adjusted to people from Earth, she remembers that most of them have no idea what it's like to live in the Pegasus galaxy. If Jeannie had been raised on Athos, she would have been celebrating life the day after the attempted culling. But Teyla has learned enough that she knows silence can be useful to these people, who usually try to avoid it.

"Teyla! I'm glad we get to say goodbye."

Teyla smiles back and bows her head. To her surprise, Jeannie touches their foreheads together. Teyla puts a hand on the woman's arm. "I see that Rodney has been teaching you," she says, glancing at him.

He runs a hand over the back of his head and doesn't comment.

"Thank you for… helping me," Jeannie says, drawing Teyla's attention back. "I don't know what I would have done if I had been alone in the market."

Behind them, the first symbol on the gate lights up.

"You are welcome. But I think you would have handled yourself, after the initial shock," Teyla says.

Jeannie half-smiles. The second symbol comes to life. They turn to watch the rest slowly bring the wormhole closer. "It wasn't a very good day. But I'm glad that… I'm glad that neither of us were alone," Jeannie murmurs.

Teyla thinks of the brush of frost against her skin. The dark lines and gray curves that have echoed inside her eyelids for three nights now.

"I am as well," she says, softly. "Thank you, Jeannie."

When the wormhole is in place, Jeannie gives her last goodbye to Rodney, and starts to walk forward. She pauses just in front of it and looks over her shoulder at them. "And thank you. For taking care of my little brother."

After the Stargate goes dark, Rodney turns to her, frowning. "I took care of myself."

"I am sure your sister was referring to our general time on the team."

"Oh. Right." He starts to leave and comes to a halt when the gate begins to light up again. "Who's leaving now?"

"Me." Teyla lets out a breath and runs her fingers through her hair. She only has a small bag on her hip, and her usual knife against her leg. She won't need much for this journey.

Rodney tilts his head. "Where are you going?"

Teyla watches the Stargate and lets her eyes shut long enough for Senaka's face to form. "I feel the need to visit an old … I knew him through his sister," she says, wavering on the best way to phrase it. "He married to a man and woman on one of the planets the Athosians traded with." She swallows. "I have not seen him in many years."

Rodney nods slightly, though she can tell the information doesn't make much of an impact. "Have fun."

She watches him go, then turns to face the newly formed wormhole. It leaves her skin chilled for a moment after she steps through.

When Tallos asks why she is visiting after all this time, Teyla knows she will tell him what she saw in those Wraith-cast shadows.

But she will remind him both that the one thing the Wraith cannot take from the people of Pegasus is their spirits.

 


End file.
